The wireless enterprise

There was a time when the business world had its quiet periods - summer, Christmas and other festivals. But in today`s non-stop commercial environment the situation is more complex. True, there are still some large enterprises that stick with the tradition and shut down at the same times every year. But for most organisations - and many of their staff - there`s no such thing as a holiday.

It`s the same all year round. Production carries on at the same pace only with a depleted workforce. Everybody has to work twice as smart to make up for missing colleagues.

It`s at times like these that the mobility and productivity benefits of wireless networking become even more attractive.

Want to know whether your company would benefit from WLAN technology? You can assess your wireless local area network (WLAN) compatibility by checking how many of the criteria apply to your enterprise:

Your organisation has:

* The challenge of a continually evolving business sector, eg retail, banking.

* Employees who are frequently on the road and need fast, easy remote access to corporate information, Internet, e-mail and file transfer.

* A dynamic operational structure that requires members of staff to be 'mobile` between sites and within the boundaries of the company`s buildings.

* To deal with the frequent adds, moves and changes possibly through growth.

* Branch offices and/or remote sites that it wants to connect into the company`s central wired network.

* Inaccessible, hard to wire areas, as in a historic building, or premises in bad repair or with asbestos.

*A commitment to sharing best practice internally and with partners.

Go wireless, get mobile

Today, the successful enterprise is a mobile enterprise. Being truly mobile means equipping employees with the information, tools and resources to get on with their jobs, regardless of where they are located.

A WLAN provides quality communication services without wires and without limits. Your employees have a direct route into the corporate network, Internet and e-mail regardless of their location.

In effect, a WLAN can turn any organisation into a mobile enterprise capable of doing business anywhere, anytime.

Numerous surveys confirm that real productivity gains are being made right now by organisations using wireless networks. For example, a Gartner study published in 2003 estimated that business users with a wireless enabled laptop who spend 20% or more time out of the office achieve a minimum $34 560 per year in improved productivity.

Real-life examples include a global shipping company that expects to save over $2 million over five years by using wireless applications to manage its processes - packages, inventory, trucks and couriers.

Enhanced communication

Installing a WLAN will improve communication and collaboration across the organisation. Going wireless means the corporate network can reach areas, remote sites, warehouses and storerooms that wouldn`t otherwise be feasible for cost or practical reasons.

In most enterprises, employees have to be mobile. They`re struggling to cope with changing job roles, hot-desking and a culture of constant availability. While these people carry their tools - laptops and PDAs - everywhere they go, without easy access to the corporate network, there`s still a gap between the promised productivity benefits and delivery.

By adding wireless capabilities, your organisation`s laptop PCs and other devices become strategic tools that can be used to access to critical information stored on the enterprise network at any time in almost any location.

Unlike wired networks, WLANs are easily expanded without disruption to your buildings or operational routine.

Going wireless isn`t an all or nothing process. You can start with a departmental WLAN and only gradually move up to an enterprise-wide network supporting thousands of users.

Making subsequent 'adds, moves and changes` is a simple process, nothing more than inserting a wireless PCI card into a PC and configure access to the wireless access point.

The key to effective wireless network security is in using a combination of appropriate mechanisms. There is one key security feature you need to look for when assessing products and that`s WPA - WiFi Protected Access - which is superior to all previous security standards.

The enterprise version - WPA-Enterprize - verifies network users using dynamic 256-bit encryption keys that can be set to change automatically at regular intervals. Using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) makes it much harder to unscramble data encrypted between the client and the access point. So, by the time a hacker works out the WPA key, it will already have changed.

WPA also improves user authentication by combining aspects of the 802.11 authentication standard and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to provide dynamic key encryption and mutual authentication for network users. Though you may be offered products based on the earlier and still more common WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) security standard, WPA is a far better option. Not only is WPA far more effective immediately, you`ll also get better long-term value as it is forward compatible with the forthcoming IEEE 802.11i draft standard.

WPA-Enterprise is also known as the WPA-RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) mode. This is because WPA requires each device to be authorised against a master list held in an authentication server, which is usually a RADIUS server. Every time a user wants to access the network, the RADIUS server verifies that the individual has an account and checks out the password before allowing access. .

Once your WLAN is operational, you can improve security in a number of ways including VPNs (virtual private networks); configuring the WLAN to minimise RF (radio frequency leakage) and undertaking regular physical scans to check for the presence of rogue access points.